Using All Eight Intelligences
Profile: Herb Schaal, FASLA, Founding Principal of EDAW Fort Collins

Interview by Leslie McGuire and Carrie Gregory

The Red Butte Botanic Gardens in Salt Lake City also include the Terrace Gardens. This is another national ASLA award winner for Herb Schaal and EDAW?EUR??,,????'?????<
Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

Anyone who has ever slept in a tree knows its dreams, has felt its slow respiration, has exchanged carbon dioxide and oxygen with it while listening to the sap move and hearing the songs it sings. One learns the levels of interconnectedness in the universe. That intertwining of the knowledge of animal, vegetable and mineral, that comprehension of all the different harmonies is what Herb Schaal brings to his landscape designs.

Herb Schaal, FASLA, Founding Principal of EDAW Fort Collins

Herb Schaal, FASLA, landscape architect and founding principal of the Fort Collins EDAW office, has just won (in addition to all his other awards) the 2008 Designer of the Year Award from the American Horticultural Society. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

A Very Human Genius

Herb Schaal has always followed those words during his career. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

And, by the way, Herb actually did sleep in a tree for six weeks during his sophomore year at college. He?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

Learning By Living While Creating

He got his degree from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

 

The Hewlett-Packard Ledge Garden is an example of the research and workshops that Herb Schaal requires. Only by talking with the client would they have come up with this completely nature driven design for a corporate setting. ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

Herb later went on to teach at The State University of New York at Syracuse while getting his masters degree. One of the important things that came out of that teaching position was that landscape architects need to use their ability to draw to understand design and to evolve design. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

Sharing the Knowledge

Says Herb, ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Everybody in that office was passionate about doing something important; and doing things that were socially relevant and environmentally relevant. They had just gotten a big land use planning commission and needed to staff the work. They needed me and I liked them, so I signed up.

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Herb Schaal, Photographer

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Meshing the Elements: Earth, Air, Fire & Water

When Herb was doing his master?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Herb Schaal, Photographer

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Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

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Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

Reciprocity in All Things

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Herb eventually picked Fort Collins, Colorado and worked out of the basement of the house for awhile. ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Ultimately, I got to do the Rock and Alpine Garden.

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For the Gateway Science School in St. Louis, ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Dixi Carrillo, Photographer

The Beauty of Interdisciplinary Design

Herb is most proud of the EDAW?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Herb Schaal, Photographer

Respecting Each Tenant of the Planet

His design ideas come from his ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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The Red Butte Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
Dixi Carrillo Photographer

The Eight Intelligences:

According to Harvard professor Howard Gardner?EUR??,,????'?????<Frames of Mind (1983), the original seven intelligences were verbal/linguistic; mathematical/logical; spatial; kinesthetic; musical; interpersonal; and intrapersonal intelligence. The eighth, Naturalistic Intelligence, deals with sensing patterns and making connections to elements in nature. Primary examples of people having naturalistic intelligence are John Muir, Rachel Carson and Charles Darwin. ?EUR??,,????'?????<From ?EUR??,,????'?????<)

Awards:

Hewlett-Packard Birch Courtyard, Fort Collins, Colorado
CCASLA 1981, Merit Award

Alpine Rock Garden, Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado
ASLA 1883, Merit Award

Community Garden Square and the Morrison Horticultural Center at the Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado
CCASLA 1985 Design Awards Program, Presidential Honor Award

Landscape Program, Grand Canyon National Park
CCASLA 1987 Design Awards Program, Merit Award

Little Dry Creek Greenway, Englewood Colorado
CCASLA 1988 Design Awards Program, Honor Award

Ameri Flora ?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 1992 Merit Award

Hewlett-Packard Ledge Garden, Fort Collins Colorado
CCASLA 1994, Merit Award

Planning the Green Zone, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
CCASLA 1994 Design Awards Program, Honor Award

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado Springs, Colorado
CCASLA 2000, Land Stewardship Award

Gateway Science School Courtyard, St. Louis, Missouri
CCAASLA 2000 President?EUR??,,????'?????<

Hershey?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2000 Merit Award

Olson Family Garden, St. Louis, Missouri
CCASLA 2000 Honor Award

Zellerbach Garden of Perennials, Strybing Arboretum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
CCASLA 2002 Merit Award

Lena Meijer Garden Master Plan, Frederick Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids, Michigan
CCASLA 2002 President?EUR??,,????'?????<

Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2003 Honor Award

The Morton Arboretum Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2003 Honor Award

Lena Meijer Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2005 Merit Award for Design

University of Kentucky Arboretum Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2005 Merit Award for Planning and Urban Design

High Plains Arboretum, Cheyenne, Wyoming
CCASLA 2006 Merit Award

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, Maine
CCASLA 2006 President?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Morton Arboretum Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2006 Honor Award for Design

South Fork Lodge On the Snake River, Idaho
CCASLA 2006 Honor Award for Design

University of Wyoming Prexie?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2007 Honor Award

Agilent Technologies Landscape master Plan for Sustainability, Loveland Colorado
CCASLA 2007 Merit Award

Cheyenne Botanic gardens, Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
CCASLA 2007 Merit Award

The Morton Arboretum Children?EUR??,,????'?????<
Illinois Chapter of the AIA 2007, one of 150 Great Places in Illinois

American Horticultural Association
2008 Designer of The Year